HEALTH INEQUALITIES AND THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE

Associate Professor John Ele-Ojo Ataguba, Director, Health Economic Unit, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town

This course will discuss health inequalities in South Africa, including an overview of health financing and the National Health Insurance in South Africa. It will provide a brief overview of the functions of a good health financing system – revenue raising, pooling and purchasing. It will show how health inequalities in South Africa favour the wealthy. The poor and those that need health services receive less than they need. Finally, the course will discuss the goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and how South Africa, in the form of a National Health Insurance, has embraced the UHC goal to address existing health inequalities.

Recommended reading

Ataguba, J. E., Day, C. & McIntyre, D. (2015). Explaining the role of the social determinants of health on health inequality in South Africa. Global Health Action, 8, 28865. https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.28865

Ataguba, J. E., Akazili, J. & McIntyre, D. (2011). Socioeconomic-related health inequality in South Africa: evidence from General Household Surveys. International Journal for Equity in Health, 10, 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-10-48

Ataguba, J. E. & McIntyre, D. (2012). Paying for and receiving benefits from health services in South Africa: is the health system equitable? Health Policy and Planning, 27, i35-i45. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czs005

Department of Health (n.d.). National Health Insurance: healthcare for all South Africans.  Available at: http://www.health.gov.za/index.php/nhi/category/274-nhi-booklets?download=1157:nhi-english-print